Hi, everybody. I’m speaking to you this week from a factory in Petersburg, Virginia, where they’re bringing on more than 100 new workers to build parts for the next generation of jet engines.
It’s a story that’s happening more frequently across the country. Our businesses just added 233,000 jobs last month – for a total of nearly four million new jobs over the last two years. More companies are choosing to bring jobs back and invest in America. Manufacturing is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s, and we’re building more things to sell to the rest of the world stamped with three proud words: Made in America.
And it’s not just that we’re building stuff. We’re building better stuff. The engine parts manufactured here in Petersburg will go into next-generation planes that are lighter, faster, and more fuel-efficient.
That last part is important. Because whether you’re paying for a plane ticket, or filling up your gas tank, technology that helps us get more miles to the gallon is one of the easiest ways to save money and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
The recent spike in gas prices has been another painful reminder of why we have to invest in this technology. As usual, politicians have been rolling out their three-point plans for two-dollar gas: drill, drill, and drill some more. Well, my response is, we have been drilling. Under my Administration, oil production in America is at an eight-year high. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating oil rigs, and opened up millions of acres for drilling.
But you and I both know that with only 2% of the world’s oil reserves, we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices – not when consume 20 percent of the world’s oil. We need an all-of-the-above strategy that relies less on foreign oil and more on American-made energy – solar, wind, natural gas, biofuels, and more.
That’s the strategy we’re pursuing. It’s why I went to a plant in North Carolina earlier this week, where they’re making trucks that run on natural gas, and hybrid trucks that go further on a single tank.
And it’s why I’ve been focused on fuel efficient cars since the day I took office. Over the last few years, the annual number of miles driven by Americans has stayed roughly the same, but the total amount of gas we use has been going down. In other words, we’re getting more bang for our buck.
If we accelerate that trend, we can help drivers save a significant amount of money. That’s why, after 30 years of inaction, we finally put in place new standards that will make sure our cars average nearly 55 miles per gallon by the middle of the next decade – nearly double what they get today. This wasn’t easy: we had to bring together auto companies, and unions, and folks who don’t ordinarily see eye to eye. But it was worth it.
Because these cars aren’t some pie in the sky solution that’s years away. They’re being built right now – by American workers, in factories right here in the U.S.A. Every year, our cars and trucks will be able to go further and use less fuel, and pretty soon, you’ll be able to fill up every two weeks instead of every week – something that, over time, will save the typical family more than $8,000 at the pump. We’ll reduce our oil consumption by more than 12 billion barrels. That’s a future worth investing in.
So we have a choice. Right now, some folks in Washington would rather spend another $4 billion on subsidies to oil companies each year. Well you know what? We’ve been handing out these kinds of taxpayer giveaways for nearly a century. And outside of Congress, does anyone really think that’s still a good idea? I want this Congress to stop the giveaways to an oil industry that’s never been more profitable, and invest in a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. We should be investing in the technology that’s building the cars and trucks and jets that will prevent us from dealing with these high gas prices year after year after year.
Ending this cycle of rising gas prices won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight. But that’s why you sent us to Washington – to solve tough problems like this one. So I’m going to keep doing everything I can to help you save money on gas, both right now and in the future. I hope politicians from both sides of the aisle join me. Let’s put aside the bumper-sticker slogans, remember why we’re here, and get things done for the American people.
Thank you, God bless you, and have a great weekend.
大家好。本週我來到了維吉尼亞州匹茲堡市的一家工廠，這家工廠帶來了100多個新的工作崗位，他們正在生產下一代噴氣發動機的零部件。
這樣的景象在全國各地不斷涌現。上個月我們的企業又新增23.3萬個就業崗位，過去兩年總共新增約400萬個就業崗位。越來越多的企業選擇回國投資並將工作崗位帶回來。製造業也從上世紀90年代以來首次增加就業崗位，我們製造的產品被銷往世界各地，產品上印着讓我們自豪的四個字：美國製造。
我們不僅僅是正在製造一些東西，我們是在製造更棒的東西。在匹茲堡這裏生產的引擎零部件將用於下一代的更輕、更快、更節省燃料的飛機上。
最後一個特點很重要。因爲無論你是買機票還是給自己的汽車加油，提高單位燃料的行駛里程是幫助我們節約支出和降低對海外石油依賴的最直接的方式。
而最近油價的上漲也深深刺痛着我們，我們必須在這一技術上進行投資。一些政客一直在兜售他們實現2美元油價的三項計劃：開採、開採以及更多的開採。好吧，我的迴應是，我們一直都在開採。在政府領導下，美國國內的石油產量處在8年來的最高點。我們開放了數百萬英畝的開採區域，正在運轉的石油鑽井平臺也增加了4倍。
但你我都知道我們僅僅擁有2%的世界石油儲量，我們不能單獨依靠開採來降低油價，何況我們還消費了全球20%的石油。我們需要一個最高的能源戰略，減少我們對海外石油的依賴，更多使用國產能源：太陽能、風能、天然氣以及生物燃料等等。
這纔是我們追求的戰略。這也是我本週早些時候到訪北卡的一家工廠的原因，那裏的工人們正在生產使用天然氣的卡車，混合動力卡車用一箱油能行駛的更遠。
這也是我自主政以來就一直關注高能效汽車的原因。在過去的幾年裏，美國人每年的汽車行駛里程基本保持不變，但總的汽油消耗量在不斷下降。換句話說，我們花同樣的錢，得到的利益增加了。
如果我們加速推進這一趨勢，我們就可以幫助駕駛員們節約一筆可觀的費用。這也是我們實施新的能效標準的原因，老的標準還是30年前制定的，這樣我們能在未來15年內實現汽車平均用1加侖汽油行駛55英里的目標，這是現狀的兩倍。實現這一目標並不容易，我們需要將汽車生產廠家、產業聯盟以及意見並不一致的人們團結到一起。但這麼做是值得的。
因爲這樣的汽車並不像前幾年那樣還是空中樓閣。我們的工人，國內的'工廠現在正在生產這樣的汽車。每年，我們的汽車、卡車都能用更少的油跑的更遠，很快，你們將能每兩週加一次油而不用每週都去加油站。這樣假以時日，將爲一般家庭在油費支出上節省8000多美元。我們將減少超過120億桶的石油消費量。這是值得我們投資的未來。
因此，我們要做出選擇。但現在華盛頓的一些人卻寧願每年花40億美元給石油公司提供補貼。你們可知道。我們已經用納稅人的錢給它們提供了將近一個世紀的補貼了。在國會之外，難道就有人真的認爲這是個好主意嗎？我希望國會終止對石油產業的補貼，它們的利潤已經高的不能再高了，我們應該把這些錢投資到更有希望的清潔能源產業上。我們應該投資於生產高能效汽車、卡車和飛機的技術上，避免我們年復一年的受高油價的麻煩。
走出不斷上漲的油價這一惡性循環並不容易，也不能在一夜間完成。但這正是你們選擇我們來到華盛頓的原因，我們就是來解決這樣的難題的。因此我將繼續竭盡所能幫助我們節約油費支出，現在如此將來亦如此。我希望兩黨的政客們都能與我一道。讓我們把空洞的口號放置一邊，牢記使命，爲美國人民把事情做好。
謝謝，上帝保佑大家，祝大家週末愉快。
